Image : Life and Death in the Deep Sea

Chuck Fisher (left) and Tim Shank check equipment on Alvin's sample basket prior to a dive in the Gulf of Mexico. The pair helped lead a team from WHOI, Penn State, Templeton University, Haverford College, Auburn, and the USGS that carefully surveyed and documented life on the seafloor near the source of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In the foreground are push-cores used to take sediment samples. Not visible is the array of sample conainers for organism and tissue samples. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)